Product display and dispensing systems, also known as merchandisers, are commonly used in the retail industry for displaying as well as dispensing a series of stacked products. Typical product display and dispensing systems include a tray configured for containing the series of products and a pusher member for engaging a rearward most product to automatically push the entire series of products toward the front end of the tray as a customer removes the forward most product. To prevent the pusher member from pushing the products out of the tray, the tray includes a front wall that engages the frontward most product of the series of products. As a result, the products can be always easily seen and removed by customers.
During the merchandising of products, the products are frequently removed from the tray for further customer inspection. Once an individual product is removed from the tray, the pusher member automatically forces the next succeeding product towards the front into engagement with the front wall of the tray. As a result, for the customer to return the removed product to the tray after inspection, the customer must attempt to push back the entire series of products in order to create a space while holding on to and returning the removed product to the tray. Because the frontward most product is pressed against the front wall of the tray, only the top edge or upper portion of the product may be accessed. As a result, it is sometimes difficult to grasp the frontward most product to push the entire series of products towards the rear of the tray. Because returning the removed product to the tray can be frustrating and time consuming, the consumer will often simply leave the removed product on the floor or upon an incorrect shelf creating a disorganized and cluttered aisle or display area.
In addition, conventional product display and dispensing systems are also difficult to reload with products when the number of products contained in the tray is low. Because the pusher member automatically forces the next succeeding product against the front wall of the tray, the product stocker must push back all of the remaining products while reloading any new products into the tray.
Moreover, absent any support during reloading, newly inserted products frequently tip either forwardly or rearwardly within the tray to further complicate reloading. Consequently, reloading the product display and dispensing system is also difficult and time consuming.